Managing Web 2.0 Deployments for e-Discovery Compliance

Pretty much all digital information is vulnerable when it comes to e-discovery requests. That includes content stored in-house on servers and local drives, plus mobile devices. IT departments can readily deal with these discovery requests but what about Web 2.0 apps like blogs and wikis not hosted in-house but used for business purposes? Covered by e-discovery requests? Yup.

As discussed in an Information Week story Holy Web 2.0 Herding Nightmare, employees are flocking to online collaboration tools that are not always supported by in-house IT departments. In Web 2.0 And Legal Discovery, Information Week reviews the need to develop an enterprise-level policy for the use of collaboration tools, one that gives companies and law firms the right to access any online tools that contain corporate data but are not hosted in-house, retrieve that data, and shut down the employee's access to the site if necessary.

As a first step, KM managers should conduct an audit to identify the use of Web 2.0 apps hosted off-site by service providers and consider bringing them in-house to provide users with the capabilities they need to do their jobs. Holy Web 2.0 Herding Nightmare reviews some IT options for doing so.

For Web 2.0 deployments that remain hosted off-site, a registry of blogs, wikis and other collaboration tools used for business purposes is absolutely essential for e-discovery purposes. Courts will not look kindly on "we didn't know" responses. [JH]